Does this happen to you -- after water change?

[geno]

Some of you know that I have had a problem with micro bubbles since I moved my sump/refug to the basement. I have corrected the problem -- somewhat, i.e. after the system has been running for a few days the micro bubbles disappear completely.

However, every time I do a water change from the sump and clean the sponge filters and the skimmer (I don't use a sock) -- the micro bubbles appear again for a few days. It seems the micro bubbles result from clean sponges and a clean skimmer. What's interesting is I never had this problem when the sump/refug was <u>directly</u> below my DT.

Anyway, I was curious of others had a similar problem after doing a WC and cleaning the filter & skimmer.

Thanks,
-gene

 

[kayakatl]

Have you tried squeezing the sponge under the water to rid it of bubbles before you start the return pump back up? Do you have any sort of bubble trap between the sponge/ skimmer and the return pump?

 

[jonathan]

Sounds like an air pocket is trapped in the drain line somewhere and eventually purging out after a few days. I noticed on my previous plumbing setup (basement as well) that if I shut down that system for longer than 10 minutes it took a while to get all of the air pushed out. I have since replumbed everything to 2 inch in order to keep the drain breathing freely from top to bottom.

Does it happen if you shut down for 10 or so minutes without changing anything?

 

[geno]

Hey Jonathan,

Good question -- I haven't shut things down without a purpose, i.e. cleaning. I'll have to try your suggestion to see if I get micro bubbles just by shutting down.